登陆注册
14719500000031

第31章

With no attempt at concealment, which he doubtless understands would be quite impossible, he chooses some high, conspicuous perch to which he mounts by easy stages, singing as he goes; and there begins a loud and rapid strain that promises much, but growing weaker and weaker, ends as if the bird were either out of breath or too, weak to finish. Then suddenly he begins the same song over again, and keeps up this continuous performance for nearly half an hour.

The noonday heat of an August day that silences nearly every other voice, seems to give to the indigo bird's only fresh animation and timbre.

THE BELTED KINGFISHER (Ceryle alcyon) Kingfisher family Called also: THE HALCYONLength -- 12 to 13 inches. About one-fourth as large again as the robin.

Male -- Upper part grayish blue, with prominent crest on head reaching to the nape. A white spot in front of the eye. Bill longer than the head, which is large and heavy. Wings and the short tail minutely speckled and marked with broken bands of white. Chin, band around throat, and underneath white. Two bluish bands across the breast and a bluish wash on sides.

Female -- Female and immature specimens have rufous bands where The adult male's are blue. Plumage of both birds oily.

Range -- North America, except where the Texan kingfisher replaces it in a limited area in the Southwest. Common from Labrador to Florida, east and west. Winters chiefly from Virginia southward to South America.

Migrations -- March. December. Common summer resident. Usually a winter resident also.

If the kingfisher is not so neighborly as we could wish, or as he used to be, it is not because he has grown less friendly, but because the streams near our homes are fished out. Fish he must and will have, and to get them nowadays it is too often necessary to follow the stream back through secluded woods to the quiet waters of its source: a clear, cool pond or lake whose scaly inmates have not yet learned wisdom at the point of the sportsman's fly.

In such quiet haunts the kingfisher is easily the most conspicuous object in sight, where he perches on some dead or projecting branch over the water, intently watching for a dinner that is all unsuspectingly swimming below.

Suddenly the bird drops -- dives; there is a splash, a struggle, and then the "lone fisherman" returns triumphant to his perch, holding a shining fish in his beak. If the fish is small it is swallowed at once, but if it is large and bony it must first be killed against the branch. A few sharp knocks, and the struggles of the fish are over, but the kingfisher's have only begun. How he gags and writhes, swallows his dinner, and then, regretting his haste, brings it up again to try another wider avenue down his throat I The many abortive efforts he makes to land his dinner safely below in his stomach, his grim contortions as the fishbones scratch his throat-lining on their way down and up again, force a smile in spite of the bird's evident distress. It is small wonder he supplements his fish diet with various kinds of the larger insects, shrimps, and fresh-water mollusks.

Flying well over the tree-tops or along the waterways. the kingfisher makes the woodland echo with his noisy rattle, that breaks the stillness like a watchman's at midnight. It is, perhaps, the most familiar sound heard along the banks of the inland rivers. No love or cradle song does he know. Instead of softening and growing sweet, as the voices of most birds do in the nesting season, the endearments uttered by a pair of mated kingfishers are the most strident, rattly shrieks ever heard by lovers it sounds as if they were perpetually quarrelling, yet they are really particularly devoted.

The nest of these birds, like the bank swallow's, is excavated in the face of a high bank, preferably one that rises from a stream; and at about six feet from the entrance of the tunnel six or eight clear, shining white eggs are placed on a curious nest. All the fish bones and scales that, being indigestible, are disgorged in pellets by the parents, are carefully carried to the end of the tunnel to form a prickly cradle for the unhappy fledglings.

Very rarely a nest is made in the hollow trunk of a tree; but wherever the home is, the kingfishers become strongly attached to it, returning again and again to the spot that has cost them so much labor to excavate. Some observers have accused them of appropriating the holes of the water-rats.

In ancient times of myths and fables, kingfishers or halcyons were said to build a floating nest on the sea, and to possess some mysterious power that calmed the troubled waves while the eggs were hatching and the young birds were being reared, hence the term "halcyon days," meaning days of fair weather.

BLUE JAY (Cyanocitta cristata) Crow and Jay family Length -- 11 to 12 inches. A little larger than the robin.

Male and Female -- Blue above. Black band around the neck, joining some black feathers on the back. Under parts dusky white. Wing coverts and tail bright blue, striped transversely with black. Tail much rounded. Many feathers edged and tipped with white. Head finely crested; bill, tongue, and legs black.

Range -- Eastern coast of North America to the plains, and from northern Canada to Florida and eastern Texas.

Migrations -- Permanent resident. Although seen in flocks moving southward or northward, they are merely seeking happier hunting grounds, not migrating.

同类推荐
  • 大乘止观法门

    大乘止观法门

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • Manon Lescaut

    Manon Lescaut

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 画继

    画继

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 盖庐

    盖庐

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 佛说分别经

    佛说分别经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 凤傲天下:妖孽魔皇追妻忙

    凤傲天下:妖孽魔皇追妻忙

    正义与邪恶,光明与黑暗。你会选择哪一个?前一世,我为了正义抛弃你。这一生,我抛弃正义奔向你。前一世,我已报其恩。这一生,我只愿为你。
  • 孤儿不孤单

    孤儿不孤单

    我是一个孤儿,在很小的时候被一个叔叔收养,,在叔叔的呵护下一点点长大,直到有一天,他们出现了.
  • 野犬女皇

    野犬女皇

    沈石溪通过自己的作品,不仅把奇丽美妙的大自然和动物世界中鲜为人知的奥秘,艺术地展现给读者,而且还能深刻地剖析动物形象内心活动的心理历程,生动地表现了动物世界别具一格的生命规律、生存竞争、有序的动物习性,以及艺术形象鲜明独特的个性。
  • 炮灰的腹黑重生

    炮灰的腹黑重生

    皇甫芊芊,漂亮多金学霸,是皇甫家唯一的继承人,她本是天之骄女,可以说把女生该有的光环全部都占全了。但是自从那个私生女出现以后,先是母亲早亡父亲背叛,再接下来是自己倍受欺凌,直到末世降临,她惨死在那个私生女的手里,她还知道了一个秘密,那就是那个女人根本不是……重生回来的她决定要改变一切,她不会再让那个女人得逞了,同样也不会让父母受骗上当,而且她也要活出自己的精彩,不过这一切必须建立在除掉那个私生女的基础上……但是剧本为什么变了,这个洛少是谁?为什么第一次见面就霸道地宣言自己是他的女人?还强行介入自己的生活,这是闹哪般?
  • 大戴礼记

    大戴礼记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 太极魔圣

    太极魔圣

    不同地域,不同的空间,不同的情感,不断突破修炼的极致,却是因为仇恨而为其打开的修炼之门,这究竟是谁的空间,血脉的力量,传承的突破,在魔圣心中什么才是平衡与破坏
  • 家装风水宜忌

    家装风水宜忌

    本书不厌其烦地将居室的装修装饰中许许多多细节都从风水的角度一一诠释,旨在使人们认识到每个人赖以安身立命的家宅,攸关着自己的健康和事业。
  • 脉力定天

    脉力定天

    这是一个脉力为尊的大陆,没有国度这里只有宗派,家族。他叫张子良,他是绝世天才,生下来就有脉武大陆界运力加持。他有绝世之资,却不知如何修炼,直到遇见她………修炼等级:脉徒,脉士,脉者,脉灵,脉宗,脉王,脉帝,脉圣,脉尊
  • 噬宙武帝

    噬宙武帝

    一次武帝间的对决,使他意外穿越到了几万年后!也罢,大不了再修炼一次。但,为何他成为了一个被废修为的人?“只有不勤修炼的人,没有不成强者的人!”且看他如何走向武道巅峰,超脱他上一世的强横实力!
  • 跨.界

    跨.界

    一个仙界弟子用千年打下一片天,只换她嫣然一笑鲜眉亮眼。她活的时间不多也不少,恰能陪他打完天下,笑完倾城,厮守一生。史上最凄惨古代言情小说《跨.界》描绘悲痛苦痴四大凄惨素材。过了今夜,可曾月圆。